- Experts, lawyers puzzled over US-Venezuela oil deal, call for contract transparency
Source: Reuters
“A massive long-term oil deal expected to grant the U.S. access to a fifth of Venezuela’s crude reserves has energy experts and lawyers questioning its legality and eventual execution, while calling on both governments for contract transparency. The unprecedented pact, announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday and confirmed by Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez, will put a whopping 65 billion barrels of recoverable oil under Washington’s control, a volume that surpasses total U.S. proved oil reserves of 46 billion barrels. The agreement did not pass through a competitive process, and its negotiation remained a secret until last week, even amid a sweeping reform of Venezuela’s primary hydrocarbons law and the migration of dozens of joint ventures and contracts to new terms, which authorities and operators have not completed.” (08/31/26)
- The billionaire tax is breaking the California Democratic Party
Source: SFGate
“California’s billionaire tax proposal is splintering the state’s Democratic Party, with party leaders opposing the wealth tax even as voters, and especially young voters, appear eager to increase taxes on the rich. The latest division appeared last week when the San Francisco Democratic Party voted to oppose Proposition 40, the controversial wealth tax on the November ballot. The decision goes against the state party, which endorsed the plan earlier in the month. Michael Nguyen, a candidate for the SF Board of Supervisors, said the local party’s rejection of the state party’s position on the tax was unprecedented, and he called out local Democrats for supporting the ultrawealthy. … Polling shows that Democrats overwhelmingly support the measure, which would impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on any resident who was worth more than $1 billion and be implemented next year.” (08/31/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/billionaire-tax-san-francisco-democrats-22406495.php
- India: Modi meets with Iran’s Pezeshkian
Source: min [India]
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for the first time since war broke out in the Gulf following US and Israeli attacks on Tehran. PM Modi met Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. In a post on X, Modi shared pictures from the meeting and said the two leaders discussed the prevailing situation in the region. He added that India would continue to support all efforts aimed at ensuring lasting peace in the region.” (08/31/26)
- Russian strikes destroy 12 million books ahead of Ukraine’s first week back at school
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Viktoria Haidai surveys the mangled remains of the printing press, which should have been busy churning out textbooks ready for the new school year. The plant, on the edge of Kyiv, was hit during the night by a Russian missile, just as production was ramping up to deliver 1.3 million books – 10% of Ukraine’s schoolbooks. In the ashes there is a charred page from an English language textbook: ‘My name is William, I’m from the UK. My grandmother lives in Nottingham. It’s a beautiful city.’ Russia has hit printing presses and publishing houses across Ukraine in a series of recent attacks, destroying 12 million books and damaging other icons of Ukrainian history and culture. Local media report that Russia has destroyed one third of all the books printed in Ukraine this year.” (08/31/26)
- TX: Final witness to ICE gang murder released from concentration camp, attorney says
Source: ABC 13 Eyewitness News
“The third and final witness to the [murder] of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston’s Magnolia Park in July has been released from ICE custody, according to Attorney Ruby Powers. Powers shared the news with ABC13’s Daniela Hurtado on Sunday evening. Victor Salgado was [abducted] after an ICE agent shot and killed his brother, Lorenzo, on July 7, 2026. His nephew, Ronaldo Salgado, released a statement on social media confirming that his uncle was released Sunday morning.” (08/30/26)
- Convicted cab driver rapist Gurmeet Singh stripped of US citizenship 15 years after assaulting passenger
Source: New York Post
“An India-born cab driver sentenced to 20 years behind bars for kidnapping and raping a woman at knifepoint in 2011 has had his citizenship revoked, the Justice Department confirmed Monday. Gurmeet Singh, now 55, was convicted in 2014 of the violent sexual assault of his young female passenger, who fell asleep as he drove her to her East Village apartment after picking her up from Williamsburg in May 2011, weeks before he filed his naturalization application. According to a victim impact statement read by prosecutors at Singh’s sentencing, the woman woke up to find the cabbie on top of her and holding a knife against her throat, asking her if she wanted to live.” (08/31/26)
- North Korea: Regime rejects Trump overtures, vows to expand nuclear arsenal
Source: Yahoo! News
“North Korea has reaffirmed its hardline stance towards the US and defended the further expansion of its nuclear weapons programme, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Pyongyang said on Monday. The spokesman accused the US government of having failed to change its hostile policy, pointing to Washington’s continued insistence on the complete nuclear disarmament of North Korea as evidence. He also noted that the US was planning to hold a military exercise with South Korea and Japan the following week.” (08/31/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/north-korea-rejects-trump-overtures-081829149.html
- “Like fighting a dinosaur”: Sydney woman recalls how she punched shark during attack
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A Sydney woman who survived a shark attack has described the moment she came face-to-face with a 4m great white before repeatedly punching it. Leah Stewart, 34, was dragged under the water at Coogee Beach in June as the shark bit into her thigh and arms, leaving her with extreme blood loss and injuries so severe that doctors had to amputate her left arm. In an interview which aired on Sunday, the mother-of-one said she was determined to live for the sake of her baby daughter. ‘In my head, I was like, … ‘You are not taking me away from my daughter’, and I twisted myself around and I just started punching it over and over and over again – it was like fighting a dinosaur’. Moments earlier, Stewart had just finished her regular Saturday morning swim and was heading back to shore when she was alerted to danger.” (08/31/26)
- US House returns for shutdown theater performance
Source: CBS News
“The House returns Monday from its five-week recess, with approving a short-term funding bill to head off a government shutdown topping its to-do list. Funding is set to lapse Sept. 30 without a deal, and lawmakers are planning to take another weeklong break for Labor Day. In July, the House passed a GOP-led bill to punt government funding past the November midterm elections. But the House measure, which would have extended funding at current levels until Dec. 4, met resistance in the Senate.” (08/31/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-returns-government-shutdown/
- Kalshi bans ex-Congressman George Santos for life, after concluding he likely was insider trading
Source: SFGate
“The online prediction market platform Kalshi said Monday that it has permanently banned former U.S. Rep. George Santos after concluding the former Republican congressman likely engaged in insider trading when he bet against his attendance at the State of the Union address. The company announced the ban after saying its compliance department had established reasonable cause to believe Santos engaged in insider trading over his attendance at the address, when he turned a $17,839 profit on his trading activity. The convicted ex-congressman had repeatedly discussed his intention to attend the State of the Union …. On the eve of Trump’s speech, Kalshi put the odds of Santos attending at close to 75%. Then, minutes into the speech, Santos posted on X that he had been waylaid at the airport. Immediately, several social media users accused him of running another scheme.” (08/31/26)
- Niger: Junta regains control of key airbase after soldiers mutiny
Source: Reuters
“Niger’s army, backed by Russian paramilitary forces, regained control of a key military airbase on Sunday after it was attacked by mutinous soldiers a day earlier, the latest challenge to military ruler Abdourahamane Tiani as his government struggles to contain a jihadist insurgency. The attack highlighted tensions within Niger’s armed forces, which have suffered repeated battlefield losses while fighting West Africa’s al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates. Tiani took power in a coup in 2023 vowing to turn the tide against the jihadists, but both affiliates have staged high-profile attacks in the capital earlier this year. … Residents said the capital appeared calm on Sunday and Monday, while aircraft circled overhead on Sunday and authorities dismantled roadblocks erected during the unrest.” (08/31/26)
- US, Iranian regimes trade attacks
Source: CNN
“Iran and the United States traded attacks for the first time in over a month overnight into Monday, in an exchange that risks reigniting the damaging conflict after weeks of relative military calm. Iran fired missiles toward US military targets in Jordan in retaliation for a strike on Iranian rocket launchers that the US said were trying to launch sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz –– the key shipping route that’s become the center of regional tensions and diplomatic efforts. Later Monday morning, the United Arab Emirates said it had intercepted a drone approaching from Iran over its territorial waters.” (08/31/26)
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/30/politics/us-iran-strikes-larak-island
- Russia: Regime vows “massive strikes” as Ukrainian missile attack on Belgorod kills two
Source: Independent [UK]
“Russia’s defence ministry has announced it is preparing ‘massive strikes’ on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in retaliation for a drone campaign by Kyiv attacking warehouses and oil and gas facilities. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the move would be an ‘appropriate response’ to Ukraine’s ‘path of escalation’ and said that Moscow had been ‘fairly systematic’ in attacking Kyiv’s military infrastructure. … a missile attack killed two people and injured 16 in the city of Belgorod close to the Russian border with Ukraine, acting governor Alexander Shuvayev said. Sunday’s deaths followed Ukraine’s hit on a commercial facility, which also set ablaze seven warehouses in the city, he added.” (08/31/26)
- AZ: One dead, around 15 missing after Grand Canyon flash floods
Source: Yahoo! News
“One person has died and around 15 people remain missing after flash flooding swept through parts of Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park, park officials said. The body of a 46-year-old man was recovered on Sunday evening from the Colorado River near Crystal Rapids, the National Park Service (NPS) said on social media. No further details were immediately released. … The flooding caused significant damage in parts of Grand Canyon National Park, including destroying footbridges and hiking trails, and damaging campsites, according to US media reports.” (08/31/26)
- South Korea: Court Sentences Unification Church Leader to Jail in Political Influence Case
Source: US News & World Report
“A South Korean court on Monday sentenced Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja to a combined two years in prison over political funding and bribery offences linked to efforts to gain influence with former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration. The Seoul Central District Court found that Han, 83, was involved in providing money to politicians and luxury goods, including Chanel bags and a diamond necklace, to former first lady Kim Keon Hee, according to the ruling. Han, head of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, was indicted in October 2025 by a special prosecutor team investigating allegations involving Yoon and Kim. The case was one of several probes launched after Yoon was removed from office following his December 2024 declaration of martial law.” (08/31/26)
- NASA launches Roman Space Telescope to tackle dark-energy mysteries
Source: Nature
“The largest infrared digital camera ever built and its scientific companion, a massive mirror originally designed for a spy satellite, are now safely in orbit, after the flawless launch of NASA’s newest flagship telescope. The US$4.3-billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off atop a SpaceX rocket at 7:35 a.m. local time today from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and it will soon be on its way to its final location. The observatory is expected to yield a wealth of discoveries, from insight into the nature of ‘dark energy’, the force causing the Universe’s expansion, to millions of stars in the Milky Way and the planets that orbit them. It is named after Nancy Grace Roman (1925–2018), NASA’s first chief astronomer and a leading figure in many of the agency’s most impactful scientific programmes, including the Hubble Space Telescope.” (08/30/26)
- MN: Supreme Court rejects Lindell’s bid to recount GOP gubernatorial primary
Source: NBC News
“MyPillow founder Mike Lindell has long denied Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election. Now, he’s refusing to accept his own election loss in the GOP primary for governor of Minnesota. The Minnesota Supreme Court on Saturday rejected Lindell’s bid for a full recount of his Aug. 11 loss to state House Speaker Lisa Demuth after she won the Republican primary by 45,000 votes. … Lindell told NBC News in a phone call Saturday evening that he plans to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. … Lindell previously pledged to pay an estimated $825,000 to cover a full hand recount and audit of the race but refused to pay the money on Monday, the state’s deadline, after finding out that the recount only included counting the ballots cast for either Lindell or Demuth.” (08/29/26)
- Ferry carrying nearly 270 people capsizes off northern Cyprus, killing at least seven
Source: CBS News
“At least seven people have died after a ferry carrying nearly 270 passengers and crew capsized off the coast of northern Cyprus on Sunday, Turkish media reported. The prime minister of the breakaway north of ethnically divided Cyprus, Unal Ustel, said 237 people have been rescued. A search is underway for another 24 people, he told the Turkish state-run TRT news channel. … The catamaran-style ferry was traveling from the port of Kyrenia, also known as Girne, in the breakaway north of ethnically divided Cyprus, to the Turkish port of Tasucu in Mersin province.” (08/30/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ferry-passengers-capsizes-northern-cyprus/
- Senile reality TV star whines over reportage, wants FCC to punish journalist
Source: US News & World Report
“U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday that NBC’s Kristen Welker will be reported to the Federal Communications Commission for ‘rebuke or punishment,’ after he said she reported the Republican president had mixed results in his endorsement of candidates. ‘Kristen Welker, the Unpopular ‘Hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press, just stated that Donald Trump has ‘mixed results’ on his Endorsements of Candidates, when the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei, stand at 100% for the U.S. Senate, and 98% for the U.S. House,’ Trump wrote. ‘Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment. Unfortunately, she is not the only one,’ Trump added in the post.” (08/30/26)
- Sony, Warner sue Anthropic, alleging “blatant theft” [sic] of intellectual property [sic]
Source: Axios
“Some of the world’s largest music publishers filed a blockbuster lawsuit against Anthropic late Friday night, alleging ‘one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts [sic] of intellectual property [sic] in history.’ … The Sony/Warner lawsuit is notable because it’s broad. It alleges Anthropic unlawfully trained its models off ‘tens of thousands’ of music publishers’ copyrighted compositions, whereas other lawsuits have focused on a narrower set of works.” (08/29/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/08/29/anthropic-sony-warner-music-copyright
- Godless and Providential?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Mark Tooley“The Godless Constitution and the Providential Nation by Steven D. Smith is timely reading for America’s 250th birthday, especially amid increasing debates over Christian Nationalism. Even as American religious practice has declined over several decades, more religious voices are paradoxically clamoring to legally establish their preferred form of religion. Integralists want a Catholic confessional state. Some Calvinists who self-identify as Christian Nationalists believe civil magistrates should repress blasphemy and apostasy, among other spiritual duties. Smith rightly sees this clamoring for more religion in governance as a reaction against the decline of providentialism and civil religion.” (08/31/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/godless-and-providential/
- Newsom Celebrates a Higher Minimum Wage as California Jobs Struggle
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry Jackson“California law now provides for an annual adjustment to the statewide minimum wage for inflation. On Jan. 1, 2027, it will jump from $16.90 per hour to $17.40, higher than any statewide minimum wage currently in effect. (In a few cities, the minimum wage is already $20 an hour and in many others it’s dangerously close to that mark.) It is a wage, said Newsom, ‘that rewards work, grows the economy, and puts working families first. We believe if you work hard, you deserve a decent paycheck.’ Put aside for the moment that government is in no position to decide what a ‘decent paycheck’ is and let’s look at the employment numbers and marvel at why advocates don’t see the destructive nature of government-instituted wage floors.” (08/31/26)
https://fee.org/articles/newsom-celebrates-a-higher-minimum-wage-as-california-jobs-struggle/
- Data center fight could decide next president, and cost America the AI race
Source: Fox News
by Len Khodorkovsky“It’s the fall of 2028. A debate moderator turns to two presidential nominees who spent their governorships fighting over data centers. ‘China’s AI lead is now a fact,’ she says. ‘In 2026, you decided to restrict data-center construction, and the machinist in Youngstown, Ohio, watched his job follow the servers to the Gulf. What do you tell him? Which of your policies would you take back?’ That reckoning is two years away, but the choices that will decide it are being made now. Rising electric bills deserve a real fix, but not one rushed for political expediency that leaves the people it’s meant to help worse off down the road. The pressure to do something is building.” (08/31/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/data-center-fight-could-decide-next-president-cost-america-ai-race
- Global Empire as Domestic Policy
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato“We rarely consider the domestic political implications of Washington’s globe-spanning empire, yet government spending on war and empire functions as the de facto national industrial policy of the United States, largely determining which cutting-edge technologies receive the most investment, which companies will enjoy massive state-guaranteed markets, and which physical objects will be the focus of the country’s industrial production capacity. Through the military empire, the state becomes both the architect of and primary consumer for a huge industrial sector. And while it has grabbed more headlines this year due to the parlous speculative bubble surrounding AI, the political consequences of the connection between the global military empire and the private sector tech industry remain woefully under-discussed in the mainstream discourse.” (08/31/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/31/global-empire-as-domestic-policy/
- Trump designates protesters terrorists. How far will it go?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Elizabeth Beavers“Protesting is terrorism. At least, that is the message that the Trump administration has communicated in a series of recent actions, culminating last week in its designation of the U.K.-based Palestine Action as a terrorist group. … Separately from financial transactions, it also means that all U.S. persons are prohibited from vaguely-defined interactions with the group that amount to “material support” or ‘services.’ Anyone violating this prohibition could be subjected to civil or criminal penalties, or could themselves be placed on the SDGT list. The question of exactly what illegal ‘support’ for Palestine Action could now mean is a troubling one.” (08/31/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/palestine-action-terrorists/
- The Fallacy of Stable Prices
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith“Though Herbert Hoover was a pioneer among presidents in getting the government to ‘do something’ about a depression, he was no maverick. He had the support of distinguished court economists who promoted the idea that stable prices were the key to lasting prosperity. Common sense tells us that if we walk into a store and find prices consistently lower than they had been, we are better off, other things equal, because our money buys more. As Rothbard wrote, ‘Increased productivity tends to lower prices (and costs) and thereby distribute the fruits of free enterprise to all the public, raising the standard of living of all consumers. Forcible propping up of the price level prevents this spread of higher living standards.’ While the concept ‘stable price level’ may not sound menacing, the mechanism for achieving it was.” (08/31/26)
- Opioid Settlement Funds Belong to the Public: Communities Want Healing, Not Punishment
Source: Common Dreams
by Kasia Malinawska-Sempruch“Nearly $58 billion is now flowing into states and local governments after the recent settlement with Purdue Pharma and other companies whose actions fueled the overdose epidemic, one of the deadliest public health crises in American history. For the first time in a generation, local communities have a critical opportunity to decide how this money is spent and allocate funding to build systems on their own terms, systems that actually save lives and provide care rooted in dignity. The question is whether state, county, and municipal officials will actually take that chance. The settlement money belongs to the people that paid the price. It is restitution for those lives lost, for families devastated, and for communities harmed not only by addiction and overdose, but by decades of failed punitive policies that criminalized suffering instead of treating it. It doesn’t belong to politicians, hospital systems, police departments, or consultants.” (08/31/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/opioid-settlement-funds-community
- Fauci Didn’t Create Faucism. He Exposed It
Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein“The deeper threat to liberty isn’t one powerful expert, but a society willing to surrender its judgment to prevailing opinion.” (08/31/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/fauci-didnt-create-faucism-he-exposed-it/
- Baiting Turkey: Israel’s Strategy in Syria
Source: Antiwar.com
by Thomas S Karat“Turkey wants a single Syrian state under Ahmed al-Sharaa, its Kurdish militias folded into a national army, its refugees sent home, its northern border shut. Israel wants Syria kept weak and split, its minorities shielded from Damascus, its south left open to Israeli entry. The foreign minister in Jerusalem has been clear that Turkish radar and air defense and aircraft would close skies that Israeli jets now cross at will, and would make a future strike on Iran harder to fly. Al-Sharaa, pressed from both sides, takes Turkish training and reconstruction while quietly thinning the Turkish-shaped units inside his own army, unwilling to become anyone’s client. Syria is not where the rivalry is happening. Syria is what it is over.” (08/31/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/thomas_karat/2026/08/30/baiting-turkey
- Twilight’s Last Gleaming
Source: Tenth Amendment
by Andrew P. Napolitano“There is a point in the decline of republics when the problem is no longer that government breaks its own laws. Governments will always behave unlawfully. The deeper problem comes when the constitutional machinery designed to prevent those acts stops functioning — when spending becomes detached from arithmetic, presidential power becomes detached from law, and Congress and the courts become detached from the Constitution. That’s where America is today.” (08/30/26)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/08/30/twilights-last-gleaming/
- AG Letitia James turns evil eye on Trump, and blind eye to NY crime
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine“We know Trump-deranged New York Attorney General Letitia James campaigned on jailing the president, but an explosive all-staff email from one of her star prosecutors Friday claims her office explicitly directed him to ‘find and pursue crimes’ to pin on Donald Trump and his allies, according to the Albany Times- Union. In a bridge-burning email to 2,000 colleagues at 10 a.m. Friday, Assistant Attorney General Daniel Wiesenfeld claimed that he had been instructed by his supervisor ‘to find and pursue crimes committed by specific individuals and organizations affiliated with Donald Trump’. ” (08/30/26)
- Ethnic Cleansing, Other Horrors, and the Racial IQ Controversy
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman“‘It is never too much to remember how much ethnic cleansing was made in the past based on ‘scientific evidence’ that some races were ‘not as intelligent as ours’ … (Comment on my blog) … Claims of this sort, about genocide, slavery, or ethnic cleansing, are offered as a reason not to talk about group differences. The implicit argument is that even if the average IQ of Africans is lower than that of Europeans or fewer women than men are talented at mathematics it is better not to say so, better to pretend it isn’t true. People making the argument rarely put it that way but it is pretty clearly what they believe. This raises three questions.” (08/30/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/ethnic-cleansing-other-horrors-and-a42
- Guardrails for Democracy: How Congress Can Reinforce Privacy Rights and Independent Oversight
Source: Liberal Currents
by Judith Starr“The Privacy Act of 1974 is the most important bulwark against federal government misuse of the enormous amount of personal data it collects. This applies to information that can be used to confirm an individual’s identity, either alone or when combined with other information linkable to a specific individual. The Privacy Act limits access to and disclosure of such information to those with a need to know regarding the performance of their duties. Individuals harmed by unlawful disclosure may sue the agency in federal court, but only for actual damages. … When officials override agency safeguards, Privacy Act remedies have been insufficient to stop ongoing harms or provide complete relief to a harmed individual. Recent events involving investigation of the President’s political enemies demonstrate the holes in the remedial framework.” (08/30/26)
- This is Not Real Life
Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden“Truth, the old saying goes, is stranger than fiction. Which may be why I like biographies. They’re the stories of real people. They tell us about real heroes. Role models. Inspirations. But the most interesting and inspiring of such stories are often autobiographies. Autobiographies go a step beyond the biography. They give us a glimpse into a person’s soul. They reveal personal struggles in a visceral way.” (08/30/26)
https://jollylibertarian.blogspot.com/2026/08/this-is-not-real-life.html
- Big Tech Crashes Headlong Into American Democracy
Source: The American Prospect
by Ryan Cooper“The data, as it were, are in: The American people really, really, really hate data centers. A poll conducted by Heatmap News finds that over the course of a year, opinion has gone from 43 percent net support and 42 percent net opposition to 75 percent net opposition and 15 percent net support—a swing of 61 points. Fully 61 percent of Americans now say they strongly oppose the facilities. Dozens of them have been canceled. In every demographic you can think of—urban or rural, young or old, even Democrat or Republican—huge majorities of respondents register disapproval. Brothers, sisters, come together! This has Republican politicians scrambling to memory-hole their very recent history of being fanatically pro-AI and pro–data center. And one piece of legislation in particular is going to haunt nearly all of them in Congress.” (08/31/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/31/data-centers-ai-republicans-big-tech-american-democracy/
- The Herd Immunity Fallacy
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jennifer Smith“Public health discussions often emphasize vaccination because it can increase immunity without requiring large numbers of people to become ill at the same time. Proponents of vaccines believe that without vaccination, immunity would build more gradually through infection, which can allow ongoing transmission and lead to higher levels of illness and complications. For this reason, the concept of herd immunity is more complex than simple visual models suggest and depends on timing, population dynamics, and the characteristics of the disease itself. It’s also important to recognize that herd immunity is not permanent.” (08/30/26)
- Caligula’s Trade War
Source: Gideon’s Substack
by Noah Millman“Machiavelli advised princes that it is better to be feared than to be loved (though better still to be both loved and feared), but also warned them that they should avoid coming to be hated, as hatred inspires rebellion and a willingness to suffer for the sake of removing the object of hate. Trump plainly wants to believe he is loved despite all evidence to the contrary, which is why he demands such humiliating sycophancy from everyone in his orbit, and while in the immediate aftermath of his election he inspired quite a bit of fear, as time has worn on he has inspired far more hate. But a prince can inspire something worse than hate, and that is contempt. … there’s something particularly pathetic about this ‘Lake America’ gesture. It smacks too obviously of Caligula marching his legions to the English Channel to collect seashells as evidence that they had conquered the ocean.” (08/28/26)
- Welcome to the Milo Yiannopoulos No-Gloating Zone
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“Do we really need a mouthy Brit jetting over here at will, spouting stupid, evil, and abhorrent opinions at high volume, then overstaying the “welcome” he insists everyone else must continually bow and scrape for both initially and on a recurring basis, on pain of abduction and deportation? In my opinion, yes, that’s exactly what we need. I don’t have to like Milo Yiannopoulos, or agree with his odious ideas, in order to understand that where he travels to or chooses to live is neither my business nor the US government’s.” (08/30/26)
- The Decline of Western Imperial Mythology in the Persian Gulf
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid“In case you haven’t noticed, things are going pretty bad for Donald Trump in the Middle East lately and they just keep getting worse. At the behest of his Zionist masters who have played that child molester like one of his own victims, Imperator Trump has dumped the entire weight of the greatest military industrial killing machine in recorded history into the Persian Gulf over the last six months. … And yet it is Donald Trump begging for mercy at the peace table right now while Iran smokes a cigarette and cracks its knuckles. The Donald is desperate to have the world believe anything otherwise but his desperation reeks even louder than his squealing bravado. ” (08/30/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-decline-of-western-imperial.html
- Today In Dystopia: ICE Robots And Pentagon Puppets
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Today in dystopia, ICE is planning to add police robots to the arsenal with which it will be patrolling US streets. … I guess it makes sense that the empire’s mad rush to normalize police robots would be spearheaded by the department responsible for persecuting immigrants; there’d be more domestic pushback if these dystopian machines were patrolling the streets targeting less marginalized populations. I still can’t stand how the western political/media class keeps calling these things ‘dogs’ to make them seem cute and familiar so that people won’t recognize them for the autonomous dissent suppression weapons they are intended to become. … Today in dystopia, a Pentagon employee has published a McCarthyite list of suspected leftists and socialists who can now be tracked with the help of an interactive map.” (08/30/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/08/30/today-in-dystopia-ice-robots-and-pentagon-puppets/
- Five Years On From Biden’s Finest Hour
Source: The American Conservative
by Curt Mills“While the exodus from Afghanistan was imperfect, the conduct of the boring Biden Pentagon deserves more credit. President Biden got the strategy in Afghanistan right. He was right. He was right for years—going back over a decade, to his time as vice president, when he reportedly considered resigning over then-President Barack Obama’s gargantuan troop surge there. … Though ‘nostalgia’ is not the right word for 2021 (that year was not a particularly great vintage) or the Biden presidency (ditto), this episode—the choice to leave Afghanistan for real—deserves commendation from someone, anyone.” (08/29/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/five-years-on-from-bidens-finest-hour/
- Dem meltdown over Jeffries-Kushner meeting is a testament to party’s radicalization
Source: New York Post
By Michael Goodwin“Sometimes a meeting is just a meeting. And sometimes it’s treason. The meeting in question was between the Democrats’ House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser. My first reaction to the news about the get-together was probably like that of most Americans: OK, two guys from opposite sides had a meeting. After all, people in Washington have meetings all the time. And perhaps Democrats and Republicans could get more done for the country if they often met privately instead of just shouting at each other during interviews and campaigns. Ah, but the rules — and common sense — go out the window if you are the leader of House Dems in the era of Trump. Then you must be on a total war footing at all times.” (08/29/26)
- Henry B. Veatch’s Neo-Aristotelian Defense of Reality, Reason, and Rights
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Dr. Edward W Younkins“In an age of philosophical fragmentation, the voice of Henry B. Veatch stands as an indispensable corrective. Recognized as one of the leading neo-Aristotelian thinkers of the twentieth century, Veatch devoted his long and distinguished career to defending a vision of philosophy rooted in realism, teleology, and the conviction that ethics and politics must be grounded in the nature of things. His many articles and books represent a sustained and powerful argument against the dominant trends of modern and postmodern thought. Veatch revised and reinterpreted Aristotle’s ethical framework at a time when utilitarianism, subjectivism, skepticism, existentialism, emotivism, and positivism dominated philosophical discourse.” (08/30/26)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2026/08/henry-b-veatchs-neo-aristotelian.html
- America Hit $40 Trillion in Debt. The Bond Market Just Sent the Invoice.
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey“On average, the federal government is paying 3.4% on its $40 trillion of debt, and as interest rates rise, it has a major effect on our debt service payments, causing the government to either print more money or crowd out other spending—neither are good choices. Over the next year, the federal government needs to raise another $10 trillion as old debt is coming due, and this borrowing will likely be at our current higher interest rates, which very well could create a serious economic problem for America.” (08/30/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/america-hit-40-trillion-in-debt-the
- Quite a week for a disquieted Syria
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“To most Arab leaders, stability in a unified Syria is a necessary cornerstone for Middle East peace. Until late August, however, the country had not been very unified or stable for 15 years, even after the ouster of a dictator in 2024. More than 5.5 million people remain displaced within the country from past conflicts. For most Syrians, a simple everyday act such as using a Visa credit card has been nearly impossible. For 47 years, the United States isolated Syria because it was deemed a sponsor of terrorism. For the country’s largest ethnic minority, the Kurds, independence from Syria was an urgent goal. Despite recent moves toward democracy and the rule of law in Syria, unity and stability are still a ways off.” (08/28/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0828/Quite-a-week-for-a-disquieted-Syria
- Most taxes end up a shade over the peak of the Laffer Curve
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“We’d not want to claim this is a proof, rather a tendency. We all know that there is indeed that Laffer Curve, a rate at which tax collection peaks – either higher or lower rates reduce revenues. We, ourselves, think that we should in fact be aiming at the growth maximising rate, something much lower. We’d also insist that, over time, the growth maximising rate is the revenue maximising one. For economic growth works like that. But that does also require a time horizon well past the next election and so is not something that politics is ever going to consider. But, back to Laffer. We suggest that tax rates will rise, given the joy politicians take in spending ever more of our cash, until raising them further will collect no more money to be spent as the politicians desire.” (08/29/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/most-taxes-end-up-a-shade-over-the-peak-of-the-laffer-curve
- Sciolistic and Treadless: The Democrats’ Rough 2026
Source: American Greatness
by Roger Kimball“So how is it going? In the Republic, I mean. Pretty well, I’d say. President Trump just announced the Mother of All Oil Deals with Venezuela, the country he liberated from its narco Chinese puppet Nicolás Maduro at the beginning of 2026. … ‘BREAKING NEWS’, the president reported on social media, ‘The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY! At my direction, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, working closely with Highly Respected Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, and, through a partnership with private business, have secured majority U.S. control of more than 65 BILLION BARRELS of proven Oil Reserves in Venezuela, at no cost to the American Taxpayer. …’ This is good (nay, great, which is to say GREAT) news for America and ordinary Americans. It is bad news for Democrats.” (08/30/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/08/30/sciolistic-and-treadless-the-democrats-rough-2026/
- The United States Versus Canada (Again): Truth, Justice, and Whatever
Source: CounterPunch
by John K White“Relations between the United States and Canada continue to sour over the latest failed trade talks, with the imposition of 50% US tariffs on $20 billion of Canadian goods and the announced reciprocal “dollar-for-dollar” Canadian tariffs on US goods, disrupting the highly interconnected economies on both sides of the border. The US is Canada’s number-one trade partner, while Canada is the number-one trade partner for 26 states and a top-three partner of 19 more. That’s a whole lot of shaking going on, but the wider issue is the ever-increasing dismantling of government in the everyday lives of citizens and consumers, going on over four decades, and now hot-wired by instant messaging.” (08/28/26)
- How Do We Stop a Coup? We Organize
Source: Our Future
by Sulma Arias“Many of us in the United States are asking hard questions for the first time: Will we lose our democracy? Is there still time to save it? How can we make sure we can vote? Will our votes be counted? And what do we do if, when we try to vote, we are stopped by armed men? How, if we have to, can we stop a coup? These are not hypotheticals. We have a president who denies election results and has already ordered a thousand Department of Justice monitors to flood voting places this November, and who has said he will not rule out sending military troops or ICE officers to the polls. The good news is we are not alone when we ask these questions. And many of us are working together to create solutions.” (08/30/26)
https://ourfuture.org/20260830/how-do-we-stop-a-coup-we-organize
- Trump has started a dumb trade war with Canada that threatens US jobs and security
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
by Trudy Rubin“A U.S. president must work hard to rupture a relationship with a neighboring country that has been America’s closest economic, security, and people-to-people partner for decades. Leave it to Donald Trump. He has just started a new trade war with Canada that will hurt the U.S. economy, batter our auto industry, and undermine American farmers over his irrational love of tariffs and obsession with turning the Great White North into the 51st state.” (08/30/26)
- Bear trap: Russia is running out of good options in Ukraine
Source: Asia Times
by Ronan Wordsworth“Russia is not about to collapse. It still occupies a large part of Ukraine, continues to fire hundreds of drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities, and retains an enormous advantage in population and resources over its smaller neighbor. Yet four and a half years after Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion, the war is beginning to look less like a contest Russia merely needs to endure and more like a trap from which it has no obvious escape, with no path to victory.” (08/28/26)
https://asiatimes.com/2026/08/bear-trap-russia-is-running-out-of-good-options-in-ukraine/
- The AI Backlash Gets Professional
Source: The Atlantic
by Matteo Wong“If there’s one thing America seems to agree on, it’s AI. Some three-quarters of Americans oppose a data center being built in their area, three-quarters of Americans think AI will hurt their job security, nearly 70 percent think the technology is advancing too quickly—the polls go on. Progressive and Republican candidates alike are bashing the tech industry to win primary elections. States and cities are halting plans for data-center development. Yet in cloistered San Francisco, where I live, staffers at OpenAI and Anthropic are developing this same feared technology at light speed and pulling down compensation packages that stretch to considerably more than $1 million. … so I noticed when a small group, with ties to both the Bay Area and Washington, started making noise, insisting that the AI race slow down and the technology be overseen not by executives and engineers, but by the broadest population possible.” (08/28/26)
- This creepy Israeli spy tech is likely operating in a city near you
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Hayden Long“Since the 2013 Edward Snowden leaks, surveillance and debates surrounding it have become part of the American experience. In recent years, Ring video doorbell users have successfully pushed back against the company’s policy of sharing data with police departments. A nationwide movement is demanding the discontinuation of Flock Cameras, a widely adopted automatic license plate reader that gathers data on anyone who drives past. However, another concerning surveillance trend has flown under the radar. Since 2023, local and state police departments across the country have purchased technology for real-time monitoring of smart devices from the Israeli firm Cognyte Solutions LP.” (08/28/26)
- The Counter-Constitutional Movement: “Institutionalist” Becomes the New “Oligarch” Label for the Far Left
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“Pennsylvania state representative and Democratic Socialist Chris Rabb is the latest Democrat to reaffirm his alliance with virulent antisemite Hasan Piker. What is most notable, however, is his attack on establishment Democrats as ‘institutionalists’, a new label reflecting the radical agenda for changing our constitutional system. It is a term that is now in vogue on the far left by those who want to tear down our institutions and scrap our Constitution. Across the country, attacks are growing on Democrats and independents who are viewed as insufficiently radical. Those of us who continue to celebrate the Madisonian democracy as creating the most successful and stable republic in history are now ‘cultists’ and ‘institutionalists’ who are trapped in ‘nostalgia’. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have drawn support from many who want a literal revolution.” (08/29/26)
- The State Is Coming for Your Roomba
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Thiago VS Coelho“The federal government has discovered another menace to the republic: the vacuum cleaner. In July, the Federal Communications Commission added foreign-produced ‘advanced robotic devices’ to its Covered List, generally preventing new models from receiving the authorization needed to be imported, marketed, or sold in the United States. Although early headlines emphasized Chinese humanoid robots and mechanical dogs, Sean Hollister reported in The Verge that the rule also encompasses robotic vacuums, lawnmowers, delivery machines, and many warehouse robots. It potentially applies to almost any wireless, software-controlled ground robot weighing more than 4.4 pounds and capable of perceiving its surroundings.” (08/28/26)
- Rising, 08/31/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly downplaying his association with leftist streamer Hasan Piker.” (08/31/26)
- The Brian Nichols Show, 08/31/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“2028 Poll Shocker, Lindsay Clancy Backlash, AI Job Panic.” (08/31/26)
- EconTalk, 08/31/26
Source: EconTalk
“Hamas and the Future of Gaza (with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib).” (08/31/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/hamas-and-the-future-of-gaza-with-ahmed-fouad-alkhatib/
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/30/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Fractures in the Country, Fractures in the Democrats.” (08/30/26)
- Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 08/30/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“The Great Pretense: A Tour Through the Boneyard of the CIA’s War for Drugs w/ Bill Conroy.” (08/30/26)
- Free Talk Live, 08/30/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Boomer potheads causing a stink for their neighbors :: Smoking in public talk :: Ricky has a problem with non-smokers :: Is it racist to say black people smoke menthols? :: Big Beautiful Bill regulated THC drinks :: Penguin says curry stinks… racist?? :: NO CREAMY GARLIC NOODLES FOR PENGUIN! :: Which states have fewer women? :: Nihilism, taking your dog for a walk and what to do with your life :: Meta paying $18 billion to these 48 states :: Lazy parents say ‘paren my kid for me’ :: David crashes out :: 2026-08-30 :: Hosts: Bonnie, Kahuna, Penguin, Mark Edge.” (08/30/26)
- The Chris Hedges Report, 08/29/26
Source: The Chris Hedges Report
“The Iran War Is the Biggest Strategic Blunder in US History (w/ John Mearsheimer).” (08/29/26)
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-iran-war-is-the-biggest-strategic
- Unattended Baggage, episode 354
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Welcome to The United States of Ontario.” (08/29/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-354-welcome-to-the-united
- Free Talk Live, 08/29/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“CA parent arrested for damaging school bus while trying to get her child :: states to regulate prediction markets as ‘gambling’ :: Trump praised Allah on easter :: sewage reclamation for drinking water :: Trump beef ballyhoo :: Skeeter calls to point out a libertarian contradiction :: Tim in FL calls to refute Skeeter :: Xylitol may be linked to heart problems, or not :: 2026-08-29 :: Hosts: Stu, Riley O’Bill, Angelo.” (08/29/26)
- The Climate Realism Show, episode 214
Source: Heartland Institute
‘The scenes coming out of Nepal of the glacier collapse and flash flood of mud, ice, and water are horrifying. The amount of devastation is almost hard to fathom, and the landscape is changed forever. Mainstream media outlets are blaming the disaster on climate change, and pointing to human activity warming the globe as the top cause. We will expose the truth.” (08/28/26)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/nepal-disaster-the-climate-realism-show-214/
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 08/29/26
Source: The Dispatch
“The Wave Is Coming | Ruminant.” (08/29/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/the-wave-is-coming-ruminant/
- Rising, 08/28/26
Source: The Hill
“Lindsey Granger gives her lens on a new report which reveals that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cut a military program that had vast support among top military officials.” (08/28/26)
- The Political Orphanage, 08/28/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“I Read the DSA’s Platform. They’re Socialists.” (08/28/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/i-read-the-dsas-platform-theyre-socialists
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/29/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Harpole v. Owens – Snow files for MOTION TO DISMISS.” (08/29/26)
- The Fifth Column, episode 572
Source: The Fifth Column
“Canada Calls Trump’s Bluff.” (08/28/26)
- Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 08/28/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“Did America Lose the Iran War? Robert Kagan’s Stunning Admission w/ Kyle Anzalone.” (08/28/26)
- Freakonomics Radio, episode 543
Source: Freakonomics
“How to Return Stolen Art (Update).” (08/28/26)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-to-return-stolen-art-update/
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 480
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Brian Chau on how non-profits give tax money to immigrants.” (08/28/26)
https://rumble.com/v7er6ug-ff-480-brian-chau-on-how-non-profits-give-tax-money-to-immigrants.html
- Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 08/28/26
Source: Freedom Works
“Veronique de Rugy, Mercatus Center ‘Trade Wars Have No Winners.'” (08/28/26)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2026-08-29_zfw0081282026.mp3
- Underthrow Podcast, 08/27/26
Source: Underthrow
“Why Can’t You Switch Your Government?” (08/27/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/why-cant-you-switch-your-government